Hiking Foot Care

Video Transcript

"We're going to talk a little bit now about foot care. You've got to take care of the dogs. When you're out there you've got to think blister management. You might not be able to eliminate them but you want to try to avoid it at all costs. They can be very painful. One thing you want to do, is have a properly fitted boot or shoe. Second thing, use a sock that's going to wick moisture away and keep the feet dry. You've got two ingredients to blisters, friction and moisture. The moisture softens the skin, the friction starts to slough it off. As you're hiking if you start to feel a hot spot, feel this burning sensation on your foot, you don't want to go "Oh, I'm going to be at a shelter in just about fifteen minutes and I'll take care of it then." Don't do that because within that fifteen minutes you could have a full blown blister. So right then and there, even if you have to sit in the middle of the trail, stop and take care of your blisters. Here's a kit that has a number of items. You want to keep it clean. There's a number of materials you can use. This is moleskin, basically a peel and stick fabric that you put over the top of a hot spot. And they also make really nice gels. These work really well. This particular brand scores the moleskin and actually creates little donuts so if you have a blister that's actually broken you can place this around so it keeps your vantages off that spot. If you have any questions give your local outfitter a holler."